title: Prognostic analysis of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Concurrent chemoradiation has become the standard of treatment in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, the exact magnitude of the benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy is still unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective assessment of 181 patients with newly diagnosed, locally advanced nasopharygeal carcinoma who received concurrent chemoradiation followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin plus fluorouracil in one institution between 2004 and 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median follow-up period was 40 months (range: 2.1-96.6 months). The estimated 5-year survival rate of patients with and without adjuvant chemotherapy were 83.6 and 66.7%, respectively (p = 0.027). Patients receiving two to three cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy had improved outcomes compared with those without adjuvant chemotherapy or who had received one cycle. Multivariate analysis showed that both advanced stage and suboptimal treatment of adjuvant chemotherapy were adverse risk factors in terms of overall survival and disease-specific survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adjuvant chemotherapy with two to three cycles of cisplatin plus fluorouracil improved the survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yude Road, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ching-Chan
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Tzu-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chen-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ching-Yun
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Po-Han
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chun-Ru
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: Chang-Fang
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Su-Peng
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002277:Carcinoma; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult